A Reason to Love
This is a transcript. It may contain small inaccuracies.
Here we come to the 17th verse in John chapter 10, and what we find in this 17th verse is a unique statement from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Shepherd, the Good One. It's really unique. You don't find much else like it when He says in verse 17, "For this reason the Father loves Me". What a statement. "For this reason the Father loves Me." We can put it this way. We can state it this way: The Father loves Me, and here's one reason that He does. The Father loves Me, and here's a reason that He does.
This morning I want us to meditate on that statement: "For this reason the Father loves Me". What does that statement say to us? The first thing I want us to see, I want to point out this morning, is that this statement says, first of all, in the simplest terms that we can employ, that Jesus is lovely. That's it. Jesus is lovely. We have a lovely Savior, and I prayed to God this morning that you and I would be so enraptured with the loveliness of our Savior. He's lovely. He's lovely.
That is, this statement speaks of the reality of a reason for love. There's a reason why the Father loves the Son. The first thing that stands out to me from this statement is that in the case of the Lord Jesus, in the case of the only begotten of the Father, the only begotten Son of God, in the case of the only begotten of the Father, the incarnate Deity, the eternal Son of God, the Beloved of God—in His case, there was and is a reason for His Father to love Him. And that thought occurs to me because of the obvious contrast between the Lord Jesus and the children of Adam.
Contrast this statement about the Father's love for His Son with the statements in God's Word about God's love for us. Think about that. Why does the Father love us? Why does He love us? It's not because of anything that He saw in us, is it? No. It's not because of anything found in us. It's not because of anything that you and I did. If that was the case, then we would be doomed. God's love for us is not explained by anything in us. God's love for us is a matter of what? Free grace. Free grace. It's a matter of amazing mercy. Just let that sink in. Let that marinate.
But God's love for His Son, His Beloved Son, His only begotten Son, is explained by what He sees in His Son. It is explained by what is found in His Son. And when you say that, what you're really saying is when God loves His Son, it's really a matter of God being God. Because for God to be God, He must set His admiration, He must set His affection, He must set His approval only on that which is what? Perfectly holy. Something, someone who's worthy of it.
Let me put it this way. Someone's character can be judged by what they're drawn to, right? Someone's character can be judged by what they're drawn to. You know what? That's a great way to test the reality of your claim to be saved, isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it a great way to test the reality of your claim and my claim to be saved? Have you really been given a new nature? Have you really been given a new heart? Has the Lord really, truly transformed your heart, taken the heart of stone and put a heart of flesh? Well, one of the ways you know is by what you're drawn to, right? One of the ways you know is by what you're drawn to.
I'm not talking about human weakness and the failures that we all experience. For all of us, we stumble in many ways, right? James 3, verse 2. But as a pattern, if you say that you're saved, isn't it true, if you've been truly saved, redeemed by the blood of Jesus, that now your heart is drawn toward things that pleased the One who saved you? Isn't that true?
What draws out someone's affection? What calls for their admiration, what calls for their attention, for their desires—this is a test of, really, of someone's character. And in the case of God, He does not admire what is sinful. He does not admire what is wicked. He doesn't love sin. He loves that which is what? Perfectly holy. He's drawn to that. That which is perfectly holy, pure, worthy. That's why God could not accept us apart from the redemptive work of His Son. Absolutely not.
Apart from the redemptive work of His Son, apart from the death of Jesus on Calvary's cross, apart from the payment, His payment for our sins, you and I could not have been received by Christ. We couldn't be accepted by the Beloved or in the Beloved by God. Jesus had to die in our place, in our stead. He had to die for us to be reconciled to God. Why? Because God hates sin. Nothing lovely in sin. There's nothing lovely in sin. God has a pitying love for sinners. But God does not have an admiring love, an accepting love for sinners apart from His Son. He may pity you in your sins, but He won't accept you apart from the work of His Son. Same for me.
And so when God loved you and God loved me, it was a matter of what? Free grace. All of grace. A matter of mercy, amazing grace and mercy. There was nothing in us that called out to Him to love us. Absolutely nothing. In fact, it was the opposite. But in His Son, oh, in His Son, in His Beloved Son, there's a reason. There's a reason. There's something that draws out His love toward His Son.
You cannot say, can you? The Father's love toward the Son is a gracious love or a merciful love. What is it? It's a meritorious love. There's a reason for it. There's something there that draws His love forth. Something what? Something lovely. Jesus is lovely. There's a reason for it. And so when Jesus says, "For this reason the Father loves Me", there's a reason in the Son that the Father loves Him. That says that Jesus is lovely. It says something else as well. It speaks of the reality that is the reason for God's love to His Son.
So there's a reason for the Father's love toward the Son. And what is the reason? Well, there are many, but the one mentioned here by our blessed Lord—look at it in verse 17—"Because I lay down My life so that I may take it again." The Father looked upon the passion of His Son, the suffering of His Son, the sacrifice of His Son, the redemptive work of His Son on behalf of sinners here, particularly on behalf of His sheep, to use the language of the text, and the Father loved Him for it. Loved Him for it.
The Father's love for the Son is drawn out by the voluntary offering of the Son for the sin of the world, one commentator said. There is in that passion, that redemptive work of Jesus, that which merits the love of the Father. His humility is lovely as well. His redemptive work, His humility—Philippians 2 describes it, right? You remember that passage?
When He stepped out of Heaven in the incarnation, took to Himself the form of a slave in order to redeem us.
His humility was lovely. His obedience was lovely, lovely. He did only that which pleases the Father always, right? John 8:29, only that which pleases the Father. Even as He talks about His death here in verse 18, He says what at the end? He says, "This commandment I received from My Father." In other words, I am completely, totally submitted to My Father. I'm obeying My Father. That's lovely. It's part of His saving us. He's lovely. His obedience is lovely.
Also His fidelity, His loyalty, His faithfulness—lovely, lovely. He's able to say about Himself, "I am the shepherd, the good one." Now there are hired hands, they run away. They run away when the sheep are in danger, but not Him, not Him. He loved His own to the end. He loved His own to the death, John tells us, chapter 13, verse 1. What a faithful Shepherd. Faithful to His sheep, loyal to the cause given Him by the Father—that's lovely.
And His sacrifice is lovely. His sacrifice is lovely, and this is love: "Not that we have loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10). Romans 5, verse 8: "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners," what did Christ do? The Shepherd. He died for us. His sacrifice is lovely. That's love. You see it in the sacrifice of Jesus.
So all that is encompassed in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ called forth from the Father His love toward His Son. "For this reason the Father loves Me." You can look at the coming of Christ into the world in His incarnation. You can look at the perfection of His life in spite of all of the difficulties and challenges and all of the opposition. You can look to His faithfulness to His sheep and the Father's redemptive plan. You can look at all of this. You can look at His voluntary, vicarious suffering on Calvary's cross. You can look at the triumph over the grave on Resurrection Sunday, and in all of it, that which calls forth is what? The love of God, the Father. There's a reason why the Father loves the Son.
The second thing I want us to see and I want to point out—not only there's a reason for the Father to love the Son, being that reason being that Jesus is lovely—but also I want us to see that Jesus is loved. Jesus is loved. "For this reason the Father loves Me." He's loved. He's loved by the Father. And what a comfort that was to the Lord Jesus Christ in His incarnate state when He was here on earth, that the Father loved Him in His humanity while accomplishing the mission of redemption. What an encouragement that was. What a comfort that was. What a strength that was. The knowledge of His Father's love for Him. The knowledge of the Father's love abiding with Him.
John 16:32, Jesus says, "Behold, an hour is coming and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone." What a sad statement. Notice how He finishes the verse: "and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me." You will scatter. You will leave Me. You will abandon Me. You'll leave Me alone. But I want you to know I'm never alone, for the Father is with Me.
In John 8:29, Jesus says, "He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him." The Father not only made known to the Son that He loved His Son, the Father was pleased to make known to the world that He loved His Son. He not only wanted His Son to know it, He wanted the whole world to know it—that He loved the Son. Old Testament prophecies that foretold the coming of Messiah—in those prophecies you find what? You find the message that the Father loves the Son. He loves the Son.
Turn with me to Matthew 12, Matthew chapter 12, beginning with verse 14. We read, "But going out, the Pharisees took counsel together against Him as to how they might destroy Him. But Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and He healed them all, and warned them not to make Him known, in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled, saying," – now watch this, – "Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen;". Now listen carefully to this: "My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased." "My Beloved", "Behold, My Servant, whom I have chosen." Behold, look, pay close attention. He says, "My Servant whom I have chosen", My ‘agapētos’, the One whom I love dearly, intimately. This is how the Father speaks of His Son through the prophet Isaiah.
And then the Father made it known to the world at His baptism, you remember, when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in Matthew 3:17: "Behold, there was a voice out of the heavens, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'" Not just that this is My Son, but rather, "This is My beloved Son." This is the Son of My love, the Son upon whom I've set My affection.
And according to Mark, this was also a comforting word to Jesus. Mark 1:11: "and a voice came out of heaven, 'You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.'" So the Son is made to know the love of His Father, and the world is made to know the love of the Father towards the Son, and the prophecies concerning Him at His baptism.
Then also at the transfiguration, when He was transfigured in the presence of some of His disciples in Matthew 17:5, where we read, "While He" – Peter – "was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, 'This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.'"
So before He comes, the Father says, "I love Him." At His baptism, the Father says, "I love Him." When He is transfigured before them—a glimpse of the glorious Christ—the Father says, "I love Him. I love Him." And even though the words were not heard, there's evidence of the Father's love for His Son at the crucifixion.
In Luke 23:44, it says, "And it was now about the sixth hour, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured. And the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.' And having said this, breathed His last." Yes, the Father loved His Son.
And so you see a reason in Jesus for the love of the Father, and it's different from us. It's different. There's no reason for the Father to love us other than His own glory. But there was a reason in His Son to be loved by the Father, and He was loved by the Father. But Jesus is also loved by the redeemed. He's loved by the sheep. Not only is there reason for the Father to love Him, but there's a reason for us—the sheep, God's people, God's children—for us to love Him.
And in fact, this is a great biblical definition for a Christian. It's a great biblical definition for a Christian. Do you know what it means to be a Christian? Do you? Simply put, it means that you love Jesus. That's it. It means that you love Jesus—the Jesus of Scripture.
I can say it this way based on the Word of God: anyone who does not love Jesus is not a Christian. He's not, she's not a Christian. 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 22, "If anyone does not love the Lord," – he is what? Anathema. He's accursed. Maranatha, come Lord Jesus. If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus, we're told they're still under the curse of God, the anathema of God, dedicated to destruction.
And the heart of Christ's people is, Our Lord, come. Come, Lord. We long for You. And the reason we long for You is because we love You. We want to be in Your presence. We want to be with You. We can't wait to be with You. Each and every one of us, God's people, can say, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Phillipians 1:21) What is the gain? The gain, later on, Paul says in the following verses, chapter 1 of Philippians, he says the reason it is gain is because to depart is to be with the Lord, which is far greater. That's why it's gain. It's gain because I'll be with Jesus, whom I love. And so a Christian is someone who loves Jesus.
But here's the question. Here's the question. It's easy to understand how Holy God loves His Holy Son because, as I said earlier, a person's character is known by what they're drawn to. For Holy God to love His Holy Son is no wonder. But, but, how is it? How is it that sinful rebels, sinful men, who have no love naturally for what's holy, who have no love naturally for what is really lovely—let's face it—I mean, sinners love what's ugly, don't they? What's twisted. What's perverse. What's anti-God. Don't we, by nature, love what's ugly?
And if that's true—and it is—how did we ever come to love the Lord Jesus? How? How did we ever come to love the Lord Jesus? Christians are people who love Jesus. They love Jesus. And He's holy. And He's pure. And He's righteous. And He is perfect. How did we, who were sinners, come to love that which is holy and pure and perfect and righteous?
And the answer, as you know, is the Father had to teach us about Him. The Father had to teach us about Him. The only way anybody ever loves Jesus is that they have to see Jesus through the eyes of His Father. Really. That's how you came to know Jesus. That is how you came to know Jesus. Do you know what happened in your life? You came to see Jesus through the eyes of God. The Father taught you about His Son.
Turn with me to Matthew 16. The Father taught you about His Son. Matthew 16, verse 13 and following. You remember that scene. We read, "When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, saying, 'Who do people say that the Son of Man is?' And they said, 'Well, some say John the Baptist, and others, Elijah, but still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' And Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ." – You are the Messiah, – "’the Son of the living God.' And Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you." – And how does He finish it? – "But My Father, who is in heaven." My Father, who is in heaven. How did Peter come to make this confession concerning the Lord Jesus? How was he able to see Jesus, that Jesus is the Christ, that He is the Son of the living God?
Well, flesh and blood didn't teach him that. He wasn't taught that by flesh and blood. He didn't teach himself that. No man, no flesh, no blood taught him that. He came to see Jesus and His loveliness and His glory and His beauty and His majesty. He came to love the Lord Jesus because the Father taught Him. The Father taught Him. My Father revealed this to you. "My Father who is in heaven", He made that known to you.
This is not the only evidence that we have for that. In John 6:45, our Lord says, "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'" "They shall all be taught by God." And now you remember in our study in that passage, that the "all" there cannot be referring to every single human being. Every human being is not taught by God in this sense. How do we know that? Read the rest of the verse: "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'" And here's the qualification: "Everyone", – everyone – "who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me."
Who's the "all"? All those who are what? Saved. All those who come to faith in Christ. What's true of everybody in this place who is a Christian? If you're a Christian, do you know what's true of you? What's true of me? You were taught by the Father about His Son. And that's why you came to Him. That's why I came to Him. That's how you saw His loveliness. Because you saw Him through the eyes of His Father. The eyes of God.
Galatians 1:15. And what a testimony. Turn with me there. Galatians 1:15. Well, back up actually with me to verse 11. Paul is speaking in that famous passage. And he says, "For I make known to you, brothers, that the gospel which I am proclaiming as good news is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and try to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being far more zealous for the traditions of my father. But when God" – I love that – "But when God, who had set me apart from my mother's womb and called me through His grace," – now notice – "was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might proclaim Him as good news among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood."
Do you notice what he says here? He says that the One who had set him apart before he was born for salvation—what did He do? He revealed His Son to Paul. He revealed His Son in Paul. Reveal His Son in—the Greek word—in me. In my inner man. In my understanding. How did he come to really understand who Jesus is? Through the teaching of the Father.
Look at 2 Corinthians 4. This is a verse that you know very well. 2 Corinthians 4. But I really rejoice to look at it. Every time I look at it, it brings joy to my heart. 2 Corinthians 4.
"Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart." Stop right there for a second. That's amazing. Do you know that you and I are vessels of mercy, child of God? You and I are vessels of mercy. Are we not? We're vessels of mercy, so we're not discouraged, he says. We're not discouraged when it appears that people are not responding to the message that we're proclaiming.
Have you ever had that happen to you? Do you ever share the gospel and it's just like nobody's listening? Nobody's coming? In fact, they're reacting the opposite way? Paul says we do not lose heart. We do not lose heart. As recipients of mercy, as vessels of mercy, we do not lose heart.
Verse 2: "But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness." You see, when you think that it depends on you and you begin to lose heart, you run the danger of resorting to what? Manipulation. But when you realize that salvation is all a matter of grace, of mercy, that it is in the hands of God, then not only do you not lose heart, but you renounce every shameful, underhanded way. You stay the course. You stick with the gospel message faithfully.
We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's Word. He goes on to say, "or adulterating the Word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." We're just going to go on preaching the truth and not waver, not look to the left, not look to the right. It's not based on who responds and how they respond. We just proclaim the Word. We sow the seed.
Verse 3: "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
What is the gospel? Did you notice that, by the way, in that verse? What is the gospel? He defines it here. It is the message of the glory of Christ. It is the message of the glory of Christ, the message of the beauty of Christ, the loveliness of Christ. He's a glorious person. He's a glorious character, glorious nature, glorious work accomplished to save sinners the likes of you and me. He's the amazing Christ. He's the lovely Savior. We declare Him, Paul says. We preach Him who is lovely, who is glorious. And if people can't see His glory, we're not ignorant. We're not left in the dark. We know what's going on. They're blind. They're blind in the sinfulness, and on top of that, the god of this world is actively at work blinding their minds as well to this glorious light—Jesus Christ.
Which begs the question: if men are born blind, and if the devil is at work blinding the minds, how does anyone ever come to see? How? How does anyone ever come to see? Well, the next verses tell us. Look at verse 5: "For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as" – ‘Kyrios’ – "Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Christ. For God, who said," – and God said, Let there be light, right? Creative power of God out of nothing – "For God who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One, the same God who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
There it is. What did God do in our case? He said, Let there be light. Let there be light. Let there be light. And there was light. He shined His light into our hearts. And what did that light consist of? It consisted of a knowledge. And what was that knowledge that we have been given, that we were given? We were given the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, His Son.
And for the first time ever, we saw the beauty of Jesus. And we were drawn to Him. We loved Him whom we did not love before. We admired Him whom we did not admire before. And we were drawn to Him whom we were not drawn to before. How did that happen? How did that happen? Was it because of you or me? No. The Father taught you about His Son. He gave you His vision about His Son. He gave you His knowledge of His Son. And this is how we came to love Him.This is how people who didn't love loveliness came to love the One who is lovely because God worked the new birth in us. He regenerated us, so now we have a desire for someone whom we would have never desired in our own natural condition. This is the "But God" of Ephesians 2, verse 4.
Let me share an illustration. Hopefully this will be helpful. This thought that the doctrine of election means that somehow God drags sinners kicking and screaming against their will to His Son—that's a common criticism. Have you ever heard of that?You know, "I don't believe that God is going to force." That's the language. That's the sort of mentality.
But here's the illustration. If you were to take a piece of meat and you were to bring that meat and present it and put it before a cow, physically, is it possible the cow could eat it? I mean, you could push this and say, well, I suppose so, but is that what cows eat? Is a cow drawn to eat meat? No. Why not? It's not their nature. What do they eat? Well, grass. Stuff like grass. But they don't eat meat. That much we know.
Now, what if I had the power in an instant to change that cow into a lion? Would I have to beg the lion to eat the meat? Do I have to manipulate the lion somehow to come and eat the meat? No. You see, the meat hasn't changed, has it? What would have changed is the nature of the animal. And you could take the beautiful, glorious Son of God and set Him before dead sinners all day long and they want nothing to do with Him. They don't want Him. Why? It's not in their nature. It's not in their nature.
So what God did to save us is that He gave us a new birth. And in an instant, He gave us life and light. And then, nobody had to drag us to Jesus. We ran. We ran. That's called the drawing work of God, but He draws us through this work of regeneration and that's how we're drawn. It's as powerful as if He dragged us, but we didn't have to be dragged. He made us willing in the day of His power, so we came running. Eager.
So Jesus says, there's a reason why the Father loves His Son. The reality of a reason which speaks of His glory. There's no reason other than God's free grace for God to love you and to love me. But there was a reason He loved His Son. And Jesus is loved. He's loved by the Father. And we came to love Him when the Father taught us His view of His Son.
Back to John 10. Back to John 10. "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one takes it away from Me, but from Myself I lay it down. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father."This is God the Son, the source of life, laying down His life voluntarily for us.
I want us to see the third heading: Jesus is the author of love. Not only is He lovely, not only is He loved, but He is the author of love. In this statement of Jesus about the Father's love for Him, you see the evidence of the Son's love for the Father. You hear His perfect submission: "This commandment I received from My Father." There's love submitted to His Father.
You hear His delight in His Father's love. Why would He even mention that His Father loves Him? Because He delights in Him. He loves His Father. And just as the Father had to teach us about the loveliness of His Son, so it is the Son of God who teaches us about the loveliness of His Father, and who is now our Father if we know the Son. In Jesus, we see that the Father is worthy of obedience: "This commandment I received from My Father." I always do the things that please Him.
In Jesus, we see that the Father is worthy of obedience. The Son obeyed the Father. He thought His Father to be worthy of His obedience. Let me ask you, as I had to ask my own heart: Is the Father worthy of our obedience? The Son thought that the Father is worthy of His affection. Is the Father worthy of your affection? The Son thought the Father to be worthy of His allegiance, His faithfulness, His loyalty. Is the Father worthy of our loyalty, our allegiance, our faithfulness?Do we love our Heavenly Father the way our Savior, Lord, God, elder Brother loves the Father? Do we love God that way? This is what the Son of God teaches us—all of us, His disciples—the glory of the Father so that they love God and love His Son.
Listen to Matthew 11:27: "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." How did you and I come to know the Father? Through the Son's revelation of Him to us.
Galatians 4:6 says – and I love this – "And because you are sons, God sent forth," – now watch the language, – "the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father.'" The Holy Spirit here, it's interesting, is referred to as the Spirit of His Son. The Spirit of His Son—that is, the Holy Spirit—teaches us a relationship to the Father like that found in the Son of God. How should we love the Father? Even as the Son loved Him. Even as the Son loved Him.
It's the Son who reveals the Father to us. It's the Spirit of His Son that cries out in our hearts, "Abba, Father." In fact, when we enter into fellowship with the Father and with the Son, we enter into the love—the love that exists between Them, has always existed between Them. We come into that fellowship. We come into that love.
I can't wait until we get there. I don't want to rush, but I mean, what a statement we read in John 14:23. Jesus says, "If anyone loves Me, if anyone loves Me, he will keep My word." – Obedience, right? – "He will keep My word." – Now watch this: – "and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him." Isn't that glorious? Isn't that amazing?
If you love the Son, He says His Father will love you. What must I do to have God love me? Love His Son. Just love His Son. And if you love His Son, the Father will love you, and They—they will come to you and make Their home with you. Isn't that beautiful?
Romans 5:5 says, "Hope does not put to shame because" – what? – "the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." What did the Lord do when He gave us His Spirit? He poured out His love in our hearts, which is why you could say a Christian is someone who loves Jesus. A Christian is someone who loves God because His Spirit has poured out His love into our hearts.
What is this love that's been poured out in our hearts? What is it? Well, certainly it is the knowledge of God's love for us, right, that we read earlier, heard earlier in Romans 8. It's, it's, it's love for the Son of God. It's also love for God, love for the Father, love for the Son. It's love for your brothers, love for your sisters in Christ. You see, you don't have to teach a Christian to love the brethren. It is supernaturally natural. Salvation teaches us to love each other, love for the lost.
You don't have to teach a Christian to love the lost. It's supernaturally natural to him or her because we realize we're vessels of mercy. We know who we were, and we know by God's grace and mercy who we are now in Christ. And we realize that the only distinction between us and the lost is Jesus, our lovely Savior, the grace of God. And so we have this incredible treasure called the Gospel and a world of sinful men and women who are in dire, desperate need. And we are Christ's ambassadors, and we've been given a ministry of what? Do you use 2 Corinthians 5? Reconciliation! And nobody has to teach us to care about that.
One of the first things that you'll see in someone who gets saved is you have this awareness of the lost people whom they want to reach with the good news right away. You read that in Scripture. They just have to go and tell their family members, their neighbors, all those around them. What about my dad? What about my mom? What about my wife? What about my children? What about my husband? What about my brothers and sisters? What about my coworkers? What about the people I go to school with? What about them? Do you care? The Lord saved you. Do you care about them? Yes. Yes, you care. If you're born again, you care.
What a statement Jesus makes: "For this reason the Father loves Me." There's a reason. It speaks of His loveliness. And He is loved by the Father. The love between the Father and the Son is eternal. And He's loved not only by the Father. He's loved by us, the sheep. And we didn't naturally love Him. The reason we've come to love Him is because the Father taught us about Him. He gave us His view of His Son. He shined His light into our hearts to give the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of His Son. And we love the Father because the Son revealed Him to us. And He gave us His Spirit. And the Spirit of His Son now cries out from our hearts, "Abba, Father." And He poured out His love into our hearts. The knowledge of His love and also the experience of His love. So now we love the Father and we love the Son and we love the brethren and we love the Lord.
Have you come to know this love? Have you ever come to see the Son of God through the eyes of the Father? Let me ask one more question. Do you see Jesus as altogether lovely? Do you? Do you see Him as the chief treasure? I marvel at the providence of God, how things line up this evening, talking about sins against the love of God. But do you see Jesus as altogether lovely? Do you see Him as the chief treasure? The one to be pursued even at the loss of everything else?
I love those parables. The parables of the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in a field. Because what an illustration, Matthew 13. You have a pearl merchant, someone who goes and buys pearls, but he sees this one pearl and he's willing to go and liquidate everything he has in order to have that one pearl. And you've got the man who finds this treasure buried in a field, and he's going to go and part with everything he has – everything – to buy the field because of the treasure that's there.
And that's what it is to come to Jesus. You see for the first time, you see, your eyes are open. You're no longer blind, and you realize for the very first time there's absolutely nothing and no one compares to Him. And if it meant – and in a sense it does mean—that you lose everything, everything, everything to have Him, you look at it all and it's not loss. It's the greatest gain in the universe.
In fact, Paul described it this way, didn't he? In Philippians 3, "But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that." – More than that – "I count all things to be loss" – Why? Why, Paul? – "because of the surpassing" – not great – "the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but" – ‘skybalon’, dung, excrements, – "rubbish" – , filthy, trash, – "so that I may gain Christ." The surpassing value, the surpassing worth of knowing the most lovely One, Jesus.
Do you love Him? Do you love Him? It's the only question I ask. I ask you to find out this morning if you're a Christian or not. That's the only question I would ask. Do you really love Jesus? Can you say you do and be truthful? I pray you do. I pray you do, that you're able to leave this place saying with the words of the hymn by William Caldwell:
"He saw me ruined in the fall,
Yet loved me notwithstanding all.
He saved me from my lost estate,
His loving kindness, oh, how great."
The Shepherd, the Good One, He saw the sheep in peril, and He has, in atonement on Calvary's cross, given them eternal hope by laying down His life for the sheep. And this Shepherd, the Good One – if you look at John 10, I'm just going to point them out—four times, listen to the four, really four, fourfold refrain in this hymn, if you will. Verse 11: I lay down My life for the sheep. Verse 15: "I lay down My life." Verse 17: "I lay down My life." Verse 18: I lay down My life. Not ashamed to sing, as it were, this pastoral song with the fourfold refrain: I lay down My life.
We might say this morning and ask, "Oh, great Shepherd of the sheep, do You mean to say that You've died for such as these sheep? What, for these dumb, lost, wandering, fearful sheep? You died for sheep? Died for sheep, divine Shepherd? You died for sheep? Don't You have other things to do than to die for lost, wandering sheep? Don't You have an interest? Don't You have other loves? Don't You have any other more significant purposes than to give Yourself a sacrifice for these poor, miserable, wandering sheep?"
And here the Shepherd replies, "No".
I am the Shepherd, the Good One. The Good One. The Excellent One. And I give My life for the sheep. I lay down My life for the sheep. I lay down My life for the sheep. And in case you missed it, I lay down My life for the sheep. No one takes it from Me. I lay it down for Myself. I have authority to lay it down, authority to take it up again. And I have received this commandment from My Father.
Oh, beloved. Oh, beloved. You and I have every reason to sing from the heart:
"When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but ‘skybalon’,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God.
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them through His blood.
And were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all."
And I would add, and I would gladly give it from the heart.
Let us pray.
This morning I want us to meditate on that statement: "For this reason the Father loves Me". What does that statement say to us? The first thing I want us to see, I want to point out this morning, is that this statement says, first of all, in the simplest terms that we can employ, that Jesus is lovely. That's it. Jesus is lovely. We have a lovely Savior, and I prayed to God this morning that you and I would be so enraptured with the loveliness of our Savior. He's lovely. He's lovely.
That is, this statement speaks of the reality of a reason for love. There's a reason why the Father loves the Son. The first thing that stands out to me from this statement is that in the case of the Lord Jesus, in the case of the only begotten of the Father, the only begotten Son of God, in the case of the only begotten of the Father, the incarnate Deity, the eternal Son of God, the Beloved of God—in His case, there was and is a reason for His Father to love Him. And that thought occurs to me because of the obvious contrast between the Lord Jesus and the children of Adam.
Contrast this statement about the Father's love for His Son with the statements in God's Word about God's love for us. Think about that. Why does the Father love us? Why does He love us? It's not because of anything that He saw in us, is it? No. It's not because of anything found in us. It's not because of anything that you and I did. If that was the case, then we would be doomed. God's love for us is not explained by anything in us. God's love for us is a matter of what? Free grace. Free grace. It's a matter of amazing mercy. Just let that sink in. Let that marinate.
But God's love for His Son, His Beloved Son, His only begotten Son, is explained by what He sees in His Son. It is explained by what is found in His Son. And when you say that, what you're really saying is when God loves His Son, it's really a matter of God being God. Because for God to be God, He must set His admiration, He must set His affection, He must set His approval only on that which is what? Perfectly holy. Something, someone who's worthy of it.
Let me put it this way. Someone's character can be judged by what they're drawn to, right? Someone's character can be judged by what they're drawn to. You know what? That's a great way to test the reality of your claim to be saved, isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it a great way to test the reality of your claim and my claim to be saved? Have you really been given a new nature? Have you really been given a new heart? Has the Lord really, truly transformed your heart, taken the heart of stone and put a heart of flesh? Well, one of the ways you know is by what you're drawn to, right? One of the ways you know is by what you're drawn to.
I'm not talking about human weakness and the failures that we all experience. For all of us, we stumble in many ways, right? James 3, verse 2. But as a pattern, if you say that you're saved, isn't it true, if you've been truly saved, redeemed by the blood of Jesus, that now your heart is drawn toward things that pleased the One who saved you? Isn't that true?
What draws out someone's affection? What calls for their admiration, what calls for their attention, for their desires—this is a test of, really, of someone's character. And in the case of God, He does not admire what is sinful. He does not admire what is wicked. He doesn't love sin. He loves that which is what? Perfectly holy. He's drawn to that. That which is perfectly holy, pure, worthy. That's why God could not accept us apart from the redemptive work of His Son. Absolutely not.
Apart from the redemptive work of His Son, apart from the death of Jesus on Calvary's cross, apart from the payment, His payment for our sins, you and I could not have been received by Christ. We couldn't be accepted by the Beloved or in the Beloved by God. Jesus had to die in our place, in our stead. He had to die for us to be reconciled to God. Why? Because God hates sin. Nothing lovely in sin. There's nothing lovely in sin. God has a pitying love for sinners. But God does not have an admiring love, an accepting love for sinners apart from His Son. He may pity you in your sins, but He won't accept you apart from the work of His Son. Same for me.
And so when God loved you and God loved me, it was a matter of what? Free grace. All of grace. A matter of mercy, amazing grace and mercy. There was nothing in us that called out to Him to love us. Absolutely nothing. In fact, it was the opposite. But in His Son, oh, in His Son, in His Beloved Son, there's a reason. There's a reason. There's something that draws out His love toward His Son.
You cannot say, can you? The Father's love toward the Son is a gracious love or a merciful love. What is it? It's a meritorious love. There's a reason for it. There's something there that draws His love forth. Something what? Something lovely. Jesus is lovely. There's a reason for it. And so when Jesus says, "For this reason the Father loves Me", there's a reason in the Son that the Father loves Him. That says that Jesus is lovely. It says something else as well. It speaks of the reality that is the reason for God's love to His Son.
So there's a reason for the Father's love toward the Son. And what is the reason? Well, there are many, but the one mentioned here by our blessed Lord—look at it in verse 17—"Because I lay down My life so that I may take it again." The Father looked upon the passion of His Son, the suffering of His Son, the sacrifice of His Son, the redemptive work of His Son on behalf of sinners here, particularly on behalf of His sheep, to use the language of the text, and the Father loved Him for it. Loved Him for it.
The Father's love for the Son is drawn out by the voluntary offering of the Son for the sin of the world, one commentator said. There is in that passion, that redemptive work of Jesus, that which merits the love of the Father. His humility is lovely as well. His redemptive work, His humility—Philippians 2 describes it, right? You remember that passage?
When He stepped out of Heaven in the incarnation, took to Himself the form of a slave in order to redeem us.
His humility was lovely. His obedience was lovely, lovely. He did only that which pleases the Father always, right? John 8:29, only that which pleases the Father. Even as He talks about His death here in verse 18, He says what at the end? He says, "This commandment I received from My Father." In other words, I am completely, totally submitted to My Father. I'm obeying My Father. That's lovely. It's part of His saving us. He's lovely. His obedience is lovely.
Also His fidelity, His loyalty, His faithfulness—lovely, lovely. He's able to say about Himself, "I am the shepherd, the good one." Now there are hired hands, they run away. They run away when the sheep are in danger, but not Him, not Him. He loved His own to the end. He loved His own to the death, John tells us, chapter 13, verse 1. What a faithful Shepherd. Faithful to His sheep, loyal to the cause given Him by the Father—that's lovely.
And His sacrifice is lovely. His sacrifice is lovely, and this is love: "Not that we have loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10). Romans 5, verse 8: "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners," what did Christ do? The Shepherd. He died for us. His sacrifice is lovely. That's love. You see it in the sacrifice of Jesus.
So all that is encompassed in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ called forth from the Father His love toward His Son. "For this reason the Father loves Me." You can look at the coming of Christ into the world in His incarnation. You can look at the perfection of His life in spite of all of the difficulties and challenges and all of the opposition. You can look to His faithfulness to His sheep and the Father's redemptive plan. You can look at all of this. You can look at His voluntary, vicarious suffering on Calvary's cross. You can look at the triumph over the grave on Resurrection Sunday, and in all of it, that which calls forth is what? The love of God, the Father. There's a reason why the Father loves the Son.
The second thing I want us to see and I want to point out—not only there's a reason for the Father to love the Son, being that reason being that Jesus is lovely—but also I want us to see that Jesus is loved. Jesus is loved. "For this reason the Father loves Me." He's loved. He's loved by the Father. And what a comfort that was to the Lord Jesus Christ in His incarnate state when He was here on earth, that the Father loved Him in His humanity while accomplishing the mission of redemption. What an encouragement that was. What a comfort that was. What a strength that was. The knowledge of His Father's love for Him. The knowledge of the Father's love abiding with Him.
John 16:32, Jesus says, "Behold, an hour is coming and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone." What a sad statement. Notice how He finishes the verse: "and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me." You will scatter. You will leave Me. You will abandon Me. You'll leave Me alone. But I want you to know I'm never alone, for the Father is with Me.
In John 8:29, Jesus says, "He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him." The Father not only made known to the Son that He loved His Son, the Father was pleased to make known to the world that He loved His Son. He not only wanted His Son to know it, He wanted the whole world to know it—that He loved the Son. Old Testament prophecies that foretold the coming of Messiah—in those prophecies you find what? You find the message that the Father loves the Son. He loves the Son.
Turn with me to Matthew 12, Matthew chapter 12, beginning with verse 14. We read, "But going out, the Pharisees took counsel together against Him as to how they might destroy Him. But Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and He healed them all, and warned them not to make Him known, in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled, saying," – now watch this, – "Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen;". Now listen carefully to this: "My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased." "My Beloved", "Behold, My Servant, whom I have chosen." Behold, look, pay close attention. He says, "My Servant whom I have chosen", My ‘agapētos’, the One whom I love dearly, intimately. This is how the Father speaks of His Son through the prophet Isaiah.
And then the Father made it known to the world at His baptism, you remember, when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in Matthew 3:17: "Behold, there was a voice out of the heavens, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'" Not just that this is My Son, but rather, "This is My beloved Son." This is the Son of My love, the Son upon whom I've set My affection.
And according to Mark, this was also a comforting word to Jesus. Mark 1:11: "and a voice came out of heaven, 'You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.'" So the Son is made to know the love of His Father, and the world is made to know the love of the Father towards the Son, and the prophecies concerning Him at His baptism.
Then also at the transfiguration, when He was transfigured in the presence of some of His disciples in Matthew 17:5, where we read, "While He" – Peter – "was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, 'This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.'"
So before He comes, the Father says, "I love Him." At His baptism, the Father says, "I love Him." When He is transfigured before them—a glimpse of the glorious Christ—the Father says, "I love Him. I love Him." And even though the words were not heard, there's evidence of the Father's love for His Son at the crucifixion.
In Luke 23:44, it says, "And it was now about the sixth hour, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured. And the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.' And having said this, breathed His last." Yes, the Father loved His Son.
And so you see a reason in Jesus for the love of the Father, and it's different from us. It's different. There's no reason for the Father to love us other than His own glory. But there was a reason in His Son to be loved by the Father, and He was loved by the Father. But Jesus is also loved by the redeemed. He's loved by the sheep. Not only is there reason for the Father to love Him, but there's a reason for us—the sheep, God's people, God's children—for us to love Him.
And in fact, this is a great biblical definition for a Christian. It's a great biblical definition for a Christian. Do you know what it means to be a Christian? Do you? Simply put, it means that you love Jesus. That's it. It means that you love Jesus—the Jesus of Scripture.
I can say it this way based on the Word of God: anyone who does not love Jesus is not a Christian. He's not, she's not a Christian. 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 22, "If anyone does not love the Lord," – he is what? Anathema. He's accursed. Maranatha, come Lord Jesus. If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus, we're told they're still under the curse of God, the anathema of God, dedicated to destruction.
And the heart of Christ's people is, Our Lord, come. Come, Lord. We long for You. And the reason we long for You is because we love You. We want to be in Your presence. We want to be with You. We can't wait to be with You. Each and every one of us, God's people, can say, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Phillipians 1:21) What is the gain? The gain, later on, Paul says in the following verses, chapter 1 of Philippians, he says the reason it is gain is because to depart is to be with the Lord, which is far greater. That's why it's gain. It's gain because I'll be with Jesus, whom I love. And so a Christian is someone who loves Jesus.
But here's the question. Here's the question. It's easy to understand how Holy God loves His Holy Son because, as I said earlier, a person's character is known by what they're drawn to. For Holy God to love His Holy Son is no wonder. But, but, how is it? How is it that sinful rebels, sinful men, who have no love naturally for what's holy, who have no love naturally for what is really lovely—let's face it—I mean, sinners love what's ugly, don't they? What's twisted. What's perverse. What's anti-God. Don't we, by nature, love what's ugly?
And if that's true—and it is—how did we ever come to love the Lord Jesus? How? How did we ever come to love the Lord Jesus? Christians are people who love Jesus. They love Jesus. And He's holy. And He's pure. And He's righteous. And He is perfect. How did we, who were sinners, come to love that which is holy and pure and perfect and righteous?
And the answer, as you know, is the Father had to teach us about Him. The Father had to teach us about Him. The only way anybody ever loves Jesus is that they have to see Jesus through the eyes of His Father. Really. That's how you came to know Jesus. That is how you came to know Jesus. Do you know what happened in your life? You came to see Jesus through the eyes of God. The Father taught you about His Son.
Turn with me to Matthew 16. The Father taught you about His Son. Matthew 16, verse 13 and following. You remember that scene. We read, "When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, saying, 'Who do people say that the Son of Man is?' And they said, 'Well, some say John the Baptist, and others, Elijah, but still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' And Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ." – You are the Messiah, – "’the Son of the living God.' And Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you." – And how does He finish it? – "But My Father, who is in heaven." My Father, who is in heaven. How did Peter come to make this confession concerning the Lord Jesus? How was he able to see Jesus, that Jesus is the Christ, that He is the Son of the living God?
Well, flesh and blood didn't teach him that. He wasn't taught that by flesh and blood. He didn't teach himself that. No man, no flesh, no blood taught him that. He came to see Jesus and His loveliness and His glory and His beauty and His majesty. He came to love the Lord Jesus because the Father taught Him. The Father taught Him. My Father revealed this to you. "My Father who is in heaven", He made that known to you.
This is not the only evidence that we have for that. In John 6:45, our Lord says, "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'" "They shall all be taught by God." And now you remember in our study in that passage, that the "all" there cannot be referring to every single human being. Every human being is not taught by God in this sense. How do we know that? Read the rest of the verse: "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'" And here's the qualification: "Everyone", – everyone – "who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me."
Who's the "all"? All those who are what? Saved. All those who come to faith in Christ. What's true of everybody in this place who is a Christian? If you're a Christian, do you know what's true of you? What's true of me? You were taught by the Father about His Son. And that's why you came to Him. That's why I came to Him. That's how you saw His loveliness. Because you saw Him through the eyes of His Father. The eyes of God.
Galatians 1:15. And what a testimony. Turn with me there. Galatians 1:15. Well, back up actually with me to verse 11. Paul is speaking in that famous passage. And he says, "For I make known to you, brothers, that the gospel which I am proclaiming as good news is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and try to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being far more zealous for the traditions of my father. But when God" – I love that – "But when God, who had set me apart from my mother's womb and called me through His grace," – now notice – "was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might proclaim Him as good news among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood."
Do you notice what he says here? He says that the One who had set him apart before he was born for salvation—what did He do? He revealed His Son to Paul. He revealed His Son in Paul. Reveal His Son in—the Greek word—in me. In my inner man. In my understanding. How did he come to really understand who Jesus is? Through the teaching of the Father.
Look at 2 Corinthians 4. This is a verse that you know very well. 2 Corinthians 4. But I really rejoice to look at it. Every time I look at it, it brings joy to my heart. 2 Corinthians 4.
"Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart." Stop right there for a second. That's amazing. Do you know that you and I are vessels of mercy, child of God? You and I are vessels of mercy. Are we not? We're vessels of mercy, so we're not discouraged, he says. We're not discouraged when it appears that people are not responding to the message that we're proclaiming.
Have you ever had that happen to you? Do you ever share the gospel and it's just like nobody's listening? Nobody's coming? In fact, they're reacting the opposite way? Paul says we do not lose heart. We do not lose heart. As recipients of mercy, as vessels of mercy, we do not lose heart.
Verse 2: "But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness." You see, when you think that it depends on you and you begin to lose heart, you run the danger of resorting to what? Manipulation. But when you realize that salvation is all a matter of grace, of mercy, that it is in the hands of God, then not only do you not lose heart, but you renounce every shameful, underhanded way. You stay the course. You stick with the gospel message faithfully.
We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's Word. He goes on to say, "or adulterating the Word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." We're just going to go on preaching the truth and not waver, not look to the left, not look to the right. It's not based on who responds and how they respond. We just proclaim the Word. We sow the seed.
Verse 3: "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
What is the gospel? Did you notice that, by the way, in that verse? What is the gospel? He defines it here. It is the message of the glory of Christ. It is the message of the glory of Christ, the message of the beauty of Christ, the loveliness of Christ. He's a glorious person. He's a glorious character, glorious nature, glorious work accomplished to save sinners the likes of you and me. He's the amazing Christ. He's the lovely Savior. We declare Him, Paul says. We preach Him who is lovely, who is glorious. And if people can't see His glory, we're not ignorant. We're not left in the dark. We know what's going on. They're blind. They're blind in the sinfulness, and on top of that, the god of this world is actively at work blinding their minds as well to this glorious light—Jesus Christ.
Which begs the question: if men are born blind, and if the devil is at work blinding the minds, how does anyone ever come to see? How? How does anyone ever come to see? Well, the next verses tell us. Look at verse 5: "For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as" – ‘Kyrios’ – "Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Christ. For God, who said," – and God said, Let there be light, right? Creative power of God out of nothing – "For God who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One, the same God who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
There it is. What did God do in our case? He said, Let there be light. Let there be light. Let there be light. And there was light. He shined His light into our hearts. And what did that light consist of? It consisted of a knowledge. And what was that knowledge that we have been given, that we were given? We were given the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, His Son.
And for the first time ever, we saw the beauty of Jesus. And we were drawn to Him. We loved Him whom we did not love before. We admired Him whom we did not admire before. And we were drawn to Him whom we were not drawn to before. How did that happen? How did that happen? Was it because of you or me? No. The Father taught you about His Son. He gave you His vision about His Son. He gave you His knowledge of His Son. And this is how we came to love Him.This is how people who didn't love loveliness came to love the One who is lovely because God worked the new birth in us. He regenerated us, so now we have a desire for someone whom we would have never desired in our own natural condition. This is the "But God" of Ephesians 2, verse 4.
Let me share an illustration. Hopefully this will be helpful. This thought that the doctrine of election means that somehow God drags sinners kicking and screaming against their will to His Son—that's a common criticism. Have you ever heard of that?You know, "I don't believe that God is going to force." That's the language. That's the sort of mentality.
But here's the illustration. If you were to take a piece of meat and you were to bring that meat and present it and put it before a cow, physically, is it possible the cow could eat it? I mean, you could push this and say, well, I suppose so, but is that what cows eat? Is a cow drawn to eat meat? No. Why not? It's not their nature. What do they eat? Well, grass. Stuff like grass. But they don't eat meat. That much we know.
Now, what if I had the power in an instant to change that cow into a lion? Would I have to beg the lion to eat the meat? Do I have to manipulate the lion somehow to come and eat the meat? No. You see, the meat hasn't changed, has it? What would have changed is the nature of the animal. And you could take the beautiful, glorious Son of God and set Him before dead sinners all day long and they want nothing to do with Him. They don't want Him. Why? It's not in their nature. It's not in their nature.
So what God did to save us is that He gave us a new birth. And in an instant, He gave us life and light. And then, nobody had to drag us to Jesus. We ran. We ran. That's called the drawing work of God, but He draws us through this work of regeneration and that's how we're drawn. It's as powerful as if He dragged us, but we didn't have to be dragged. He made us willing in the day of His power, so we came running. Eager.
So Jesus says, there's a reason why the Father loves His Son. The reality of a reason which speaks of His glory. There's no reason other than God's free grace for God to love you and to love me. But there was a reason He loved His Son. And Jesus is loved. He's loved by the Father. And we came to love Him when the Father taught us His view of His Son.
Back to John 10. Back to John 10. "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one takes it away from Me, but from Myself I lay it down. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father."This is God the Son, the source of life, laying down His life voluntarily for us.
I want us to see the third heading: Jesus is the author of love. Not only is He lovely, not only is He loved, but He is the author of love. In this statement of Jesus about the Father's love for Him, you see the evidence of the Son's love for the Father. You hear His perfect submission: "This commandment I received from My Father." There's love submitted to His Father.
You hear His delight in His Father's love. Why would He even mention that His Father loves Him? Because He delights in Him. He loves His Father. And just as the Father had to teach us about the loveliness of His Son, so it is the Son of God who teaches us about the loveliness of His Father, and who is now our Father if we know the Son. In Jesus, we see that the Father is worthy of obedience: "This commandment I received from My Father." I always do the things that please Him.
In Jesus, we see that the Father is worthy of obedience. The Son obeyed the Father. He thought His Father to be worthy of His obedience. Let me ask you, as I had to ask my own heart: Is the Father worthy of our obedience? The Son thought that the Father is worthy of His affection. Is the Father worthy of your affection? The Son thought the Father to be worthy of His allegiance, His faithfulness, His loyalty. Is the Father worthy of our loyalty, our allegiance, our faithfulness?Do we love our Heavenly Father the way our Savior, Lord, God, elder Brother loves the Father? Do we love God that way? This is what the Son of God teaches us—all of us, His disciples—the glory of the Father so that they love God and love His Son.
Listen to Matthew 11:27: "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." How did you and I come to know the Father? Through the Son's revelation of Him to us.
Galatians 4:6 says – and I love this – "And because you are sons, God sent forth," – now watch the language, – "the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father.'" The Holy Spirit here, it's interesting, is referred to as the Spirit of His Son. The Spirit of His Son—that is, the Holy Spirit—teaches us a relationship to the Father like that found in the Son of God. How should we love the Father? Even as the Son loved Him. Even as the Son loved Him.
It's the Son who reveals the Father to us. It's the Spirit of His Son that cries out in our hearts, "Abba, Father." In fact, when we enter into fellowship with the Father and with the Son, we enter into the love—the love that exists between Them, has always existed between Them. We come into that fellowship. We come into that love.
I can't wait until we get there. I don't want to rush, but I mean, what a statement we read in John 14:23. Jesus says, "If anyone loves Me, if anyone loves Me, he will keep My word." – Obedience, right? – "He will keep My word." – Now watch this: – "and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him." Isn't that glorious? Isn't that amazing?
If you love the Son, He says His Father will love you. What must I do to have God love me? Love His Son. Just love His Son. And if you love His Son, the Father will love you, and They—they will come to you and make Their home with you. Isn't that beautiful?
Romans 5:5 says, "Hope does not put to shame because" – what? – "the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." What did the Lord do when He gave us His Spirit? He poured out His love in our hearts, which is why you could say a Christian is someone who loves Jesus. A Christian is someone who loves God because His Spirit has poured out His love into our hearts.
What is this love that's been poured out in our hearts? What is it? Well, certainly it is the knowledge of God's love for us, right, that we read earlier, heard earlier in Romans 8. It's, it's, it's love for the Son of God. It's also love for God, love for the Father, love for the Son. It's love for your brothers, love for your sisters in Christ. You see, you don't have to teach a Christian to love the brethren. It is supernaturally natural. Salvation teaches us to love each other, love for the lost.
You don't have to teach a Christian to love the lost. It's supernaturally natural to him or her because we realize we're vessels of mercy. We know who we were, and we know by God's grace and mercy who we are now in Christ. And we realize that the only distinction between us and the lost is Jesus, our lovely Savior, the grace of God. And so we have this incredible treasure called the Gospel and a world of sinful men and women who are in dire, desperate need. And we are Christ's ambassadors, and we've been given a ministry of what? Do you use 2 Corinthians 5? Reconciliation! And nobody has to teach us to care about that.
One of the first things that you'll see in someone who gets saved is you have this awareness of the lost people whom they want to reach with the good news right away. You read that in Scripture. They just have to go and tell their family members, their neighbors, all those around them. What about my dad? What about my mom? What about my wife? What about my children? What about my husband? What about my brothers and sisters? What about my coworkers? What about the people I go to school with? What about them? Do you care? The Lord saved you. Do you care about them? Yes. Yes, you care. If you're born again, you care.
What a statement Jesus makes: "For this reason the Father loves Me." There's a reason. It speaks of His loveliness. And He is loved by the Father. The love between the Father and the Son is eternal. And He's loved not only by the Father. He's loved by us, the sheep. And we didn't naturally love Him. The reason we've come to love Him is because the Father taught us about Him. He gave us His view of His Son. He shined His light into our hearts to give the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of His Son. And we love the Father because the Son revealed Him to us. And He gave us His Spirit. And the Spirit of His Son now cries out from our hearts, "Abba, Father." And He poured out His love into our hearts. The knowledge of His love and also the experience of His love. So now we love the Father and we love the Son and we love the brethren and we love the Lord.
Have you come to know this love? Have you ever come to see the Son of God through the eyes of the Father? Let me ask one more question. Do you see Jesus as altogether lovely? Do you? Do you see Him as the chief treasure? I marvel at the providence of God, how things line up this evening, talking about sins against the love of God. But do you see Jesus as altogether lovely? Do you see Him as the chief treasure? The one to be pursued even at the loss of everything else?
I love those parables. The parables of the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in a field. Because what an illustration, Matthew 13. You have a pearl merchant, someone who goes and buys pearls, but he sees this one pearl and he's willing to go and liquidate everything he has in order to have that one pearl. And you've got the man who finds this treasure buried in a field, and he's going to go and part with everything he has – everything – to buy the field because of the treasure that's there.
And that's what it is to come to Jesus. You see for the first time, you see, your eyes are open. You're no longer blind, and you realize for the very first time there's absolutely nothing and no one compares to Him. And if it meant – and in a sense it does mean—that you lose everything, everything, everything to have Him, you look at it all and it's not loss. It's the greatest gain in the universe.
In fact, Paul described it this way, didn't he? In Philippians 3, "But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that." – More than that – "I count all things to be loss" – Why? Why, Paul? – "because of the surpassing" – not great – "the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but" – ‘skybalon’, dung, excrements, – "rubbish" – , filthy, trash, – "so that I may gain Christ." The surpassing value, the surpassing worth of knowing the most lovely One, Jesus.
Do you love Him? Do you love Him? It's the only question I ask. I ask you to find out this morning if you're a Christian or not. That's the only question I would ask. Do you really love Jesus? Can you say you do and be truthful? I pray you do. I pray you do, that you're able to leave this place saying with the words of the hymn by William Caldwell:
"He saw me ruined in the fall,
Yet loved me notwithstanding all.
He saved me from my lost estate,
His loving kindness, oh, how great."
The Shepherd, the Good One, He saw the sheep in peril, and He has, in atonement on Calvary's cross, given them eternal hope by laying down His life for the sheep. And this Shepherd, the Good One – if you look at John 10, I'm just going to point them out—four times, listen to the four, really four, fourfold refrain in this hymn, if you will. Verse 11: I lay down My life for the sheep. Verse 15: "I lay down My life." Verse 17: "I lay down My life." Verse 18: I lay down My life. Not ashamed to sing, as it were, this pastoral song with the fourfold refrain: I lay down My life.
We might say this morning and ask, "Oh, great Shepherd of the sheep, do You mean to say that You've died for such as these sheep? What, for these dumb, lost, wandering, fearful sheep? You died for sheep? Died for sheep, divine Shepherd? You died for sheep? Don't You have other things to do than to die for lost, wandering sheep? Don't You have an interest? Don't You have other loves? Don't You have any other more significant purposes than to give Yourself a sacrifice for these poor, miserable, wandering sheep?"
And here the Shepherd replies, "No".
I am the Shepherd, the Good One. The Good One. The Excellent One. And I give My life for the sheep. I lay down My life for the sheep. I lay down My life for the sheep. And in case you missed it, I lay down My life for the sheep. No one takes it from Me. I lay it down for Myself. I have authority to lay it down, authority to take it up again. And I have received this commandment from My Father.
Oh, beloved. Oh, beloved. You and I have every reason to sing from the heart:
"When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but ‘skybalon’,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God.
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them through His blood.
And were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all."
And I would add, and I would gladly give it from the heart.
Let us pray.
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